Mongabay · Page 61

Over the last two decades, about 130,000 hectares, or 3,210,000 acres, of forest have been lost annually for coffee cultivation. Pressure on areas suitable for coffee growing, usually forest-rich habitats, is estimated to increase, as coffee production is…

A U.K.-Mauritius deal recognizing the latter’s claim to the Chagos Islands in the Western Indian Ocean could be in trouble as Mauritius seeks to renegotiate it. The agreement was reached in October, but no formal treaty was signed by the two countries.…

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s plan to clear rainforests half the size of Switzerland for sugarcane plantations isn’t just an agricultural gamble, experts warn — it’s a potential environmental catastrophe. A new report by Jakarta-based think tank the Center…

In 2016, scientists became aware of a die-off of common murres, seabirds resembling flying penguins, that were found washed ashore from Alaska to California. A 2020 study estimated, based on an extrapolation from carcasses found on beaches, that roughly 1…

Wildlife trafficking remains a pressing threat to the survival of countless species, with sharks, pangolins, rhinos, birds, big cats and others among the hardest hit. Mongabay’s extensive reporting aligns with the 2024 U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime’s…

In July 2022, Anton Mzimba, the head ranger at Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in South Africa, was killed outside his home by two men, allegedly in connection with his rhino protection work. Two years on, there have been no arrests. To help speed up the…

Choosing a Christmas tree. Kissing under the mistletoe. Many people enjoy these fun traditions during the holiday season. But with climate change and habitat loss, some of these plants associated with Christmas are under threat. Fraser fir The Fraser fir…

On Dec. 5, Nigerian authorities seized more than 2 metric tons of pangolin scales in yet another effort to clamp down on the country’s booming transnational wildlife trade. Acting on intelligence provided by the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC), an…

In the late 1990s, the Kichwa community of Sani Isla, in northern Ecuador’s Amazon region, learned that the oil company Occidental (Oxy) had plans to conduct exploration on their communal territory. Orlando Gualinga, one of the community’s leaders, had…

A massive gap is forming in the race to comply with the European Union’s antideforestation rules, as smallholder farmers and suppliers struggle to meet the new requirements while agribusiness giants express confidence about being ready in time. Olam Agri and…

For Thảo, a journalist based in Hanoi, online reports from Vietnamese internet users were key to her and her colleagues’ coverage of Typhoon Yagi and its aftermath. The storm, the biggest in Asia this year and the strongest to strike Vietnam in 70 years,…

On one Saturday in August 2023, news of a jaguar (Panthera onca) death shook the small streets of the Amazonian town of Ixiamas in Bolivia. It was all community members were talking about, after having found the animal’s carcass on the side of a dirt road…

Over the last two decades, Bangladesh has spent a large amount of money to restore its waterways by dredging the rivers across the country to clear some silt and sand. The government planned to make the waterways navigable for carrying goods and passengers, to…

Between snowy winters and holiday songs, many animals come to mind during Christmas. There are polar bears wearing Santa hats and red-nosed reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh. Turtle doves and the partridge in a pear tree are also immortalized in the song…

The red landscape and enormous canyons of Gilbués, in Brazil’s Piaui state, are like something out of a science-fiction film. That’s what makes the occasional oasis of green peeping through the raw earth such a surprise, contributor Rafael Martins writes…

The year 2024 saw significant developments in tropical rainforest conservation, deforestation, and degradation. While progress in some regions provided glimmers of hope, systemic challenges and emerging threats highlighted the fragility of these ecosystems.…

Brazil is poised to invest tens of billions reais to build more than 2,000 km (1,240 miles) of new shipping channels in shrinking rivers – a dramatic, costly, damaging channelization of Amazon waterways, which experts say will result in conversion of…

2024 was a big year for Indigenous lands worldwide, whether through land rights gains, land grabbing, restoring spiritual connections to lands, or analyzing how these lands support biodiversity conservation. Land and land use remained contentious as different…

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil — When President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva walked up the ramp of the Presidential Palace arm in arm with Cacique Raoni, one of Brazil’s most prominent Indigenous leaders, he was carrying high expectations from traditional…

YURIMAGUAS, Peru – The Sacred Headwaters Alliance brings together thirty Indigenous nations of the upper Amazon in Ecuador and Peru, who are self-organizing to defend a forest devastated by unchecked extraction that is rapidly consuming their territory.…